'Gejok Lesung' goes to festival in Gunungkidul

'Gejok Lesung' goes to festival in Gunungkidul

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta

It was Saturday evening in Legundi hamlet, Girimulyo village, Panggang sub-district, Gunungkidul, on the Karst mountain range some 40 kilometers southeast of Yogyakarta. By this time of the evening, people normally have already gone to bed after a long day's work. Only the sounds of crickets and other nocturnal animals are heard.

That night, however, was unusual. Under the moonlight and the light of thousands of torches, villagers were gathering in front of a building belonging to the Sanggar Besetran art workshop. Many of them wore traditional Javanese attire, a surjan shirt for men and kebaya (fitted long-sleeved blouse) for women. None wore shoes. They were ready to join the first ever Gejok Lesung Festival held recently.

"This is the first time that Gejok Lesung has joined a festival, the first in Gunungkidul, the first in Yogyakarta province," said Andri Tri Laksana, chairman of the festival's organizing committee, referring to the traditional music that is played with the equipment used to pound rice.

Lesung in Javanese is a wooden receptacle, which looks a bit like a boat made of a whole trunk of teakwood with a hollow in the upper side, usually used to pound and hull rice, using a gejok or wooden pestle. A lesung, normally of some three meters long, 60 centimeters wide, and 70 centimeters high, can accommodate up to six pounders, usually women, at a time. While a gejok is usually some two meters long.

According to villager elder Wukiran Dwijomulyono, the gejok lesung is rarely seen at present, which accounts for why it is also difficult to find someone who can play the traditional music. "The lesung has been replaced by the rice mill. As a consequence, gejok lesung is also disappearing," Wukiran said.

gejok lesung music emerged as a side result of the rice- pounding activities in the villages, explained Wukiran. It was initiated when workers would wait for the rice from the rice fields. To kill the time, they played with the equipment by pounding the gejok into the lesung and produced beautiful music. As the music came from the gejok and the lesung it was later named gejok lesung.

"That was how the music was born," Wukiran said.

In addition, according to Wukiran, there is also a myth that lives on within the Javanese community regarding the music's origins. According to the myth, the music came into existence when a giant named Kalarau was going to swallow the moon while the moon's guardian Nini Thowong had fallen asleep. In order to wake up Nini Thowong to save the moon, villagers repeatedly pounded the lesung. As the myth goes, Nini Thowong finally woke up and shot the giant with a bow and arrow until its head was cut off.

"That explains why in the past our ancestors used to play gejok lesung every time there was a lunar eclipse," Wukiran explained.

The festival itself, according to Andrie, was moved by the concern that the music is going into oblivion and that the younger generation, in particular, no longer recognize its existence. "In fact, I feel the music is really enjoyable," Andrie said, explaining why the festival was conducted.

As many as 10 groups gejok lesung musicians participated in the festival. Each group was required to play Bulolok Tibo and another traditional composition such as Ceplesan, Wayangan, Jathilan, Kebo Ilang, or Kodok Ngorek.

That night, not long after the sound of the last Muslim prayer, Isya, was heard from the nearby mosque, the first group came forward and played followed by other groups. Loud applause were heard every time a group finished its performance. Many in the audience danced or moved to the music.

The audience stayed until the last group finished its performance at almost midnight. For the audience, who were mostly young people, it was a new experience. Most of them acknowledged it was the first time that they had ever heard such a performance.

"Through the festival, hopefully, we can preserve traditional music," said Andrie, adding that the committee planned to conduct the festival periodically, annually if possible.

Head of Gunungkidul's Culture and Tourism Office Sutikno, who was also there among the distinguished guests of the festival, welcomed the effort, saying that such a tradition needed to be preserved not just for the sake of the tradition itself, but for the tourist industry.

"Unless such a festival is conducted, it will be difficult to find the tradition in the community these days. The world is changing. No one is pounding rice using gejok lesung today, as there are numerous rice mills," Sutikno said.

In the future, the gejok lesung festival hopefully will be included in the province's tourist calendar of events. That way, tour agencies will hopefully also bring in more tourists to the region to enjoy the tradition as well as other attractions of Gunungkidul. "Hopefully, in turn it will contribute a great deal to the local economy," he said.